Greenpeace calls for a halt on logging in five key areas in the Boreal Forest

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Feature story - January 16, 2013

Greenpeace draws a line in the sand with the release of the “Boreal Alarm”, a report identifying five endangered Boreal forest areas under threat. Greenpeace is calling for the immediate suspension of logging in these forest areas in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba and is advising forest products customers to check their supply chain to ensure they are not sourcing from these forests.

Five Endangered Forests in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba are identified as being under a significant level of threat and must be prioritized for protection immediately. These areas
supply forest products to the global marketplace.

These Endangered Forest areas are critical for maintaining woodland caribou herds and biodiversity and are at immediate risk of destruction. Without an effective vehicle for Boreal forest protection, these areas are open to logging with little or no protection yet are of significant social and cultural value.

Five Endangered Forest areas are identified as ecologically significant and at particular risk. Also identified are the logging and management companies and mills putting pressure on these forests. Resolute Forest Products is active in three of the five zones, including the Montagnes Blanches and Trout Lake-Caribou Forests.

Logging companies, customers of forest products and governments are all responsible for ensuring long term solutions in these forests. These solutions will support sustainable forestry, healthy communities, Aboriginal rights and thriving ecosystems. The first step that must be taken is to suspend of logging in these areas before completing conservation plans based on independent science.

The Endangered Forests represent critical habitat for species like the endangered wolverine and threatened woodland caribou.

The Endangered Forest areas are Quebec’s Broadback Valley and Montagnes Blanches forests, the Kenogami-Ogoki and the Trout Lake-Caribou forests in Ontario, and the Boreal Gem in central Manitoba. These regions are actively being logged and the majority currently have less than 10% protection. These forests were identified using conservation science, the best mapping tools and satellite data.

Around the world, Greenpeace has a proven track record for successful collaboration with companies based upon strong work plans and the respect of Indigenous people’s rights and title. Ongoing collaborations with companies in Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest, Brazil’s Amazon and Indonesia have all reduced the threat to forests globally.